Individual or Corporate? Two Visions of the Sharing Economy

The article stated, “Uber, a peer-to-peer service, keeps running into regulatory obstacles. Last month, Brussels banned it altogether. Bureaucrats are grumbling about insufficient insurance and safety standards, though it’s hard to see why these should matter if passengers are happy with the service.”

I stumbled for a moment until I noticed this article was republished from Bloomberg. Had it been written by an Insurance Journal staffer I would be asking for a DNA check.

Currently one out of every six cars are uninsured. Why shouldn’t bureaucrats “grumble” about adding more inadequately insured vehicles to the streets?

The author of this article should read the terms of service that drivers and passengers have to agree to before stating that “it’s hard to see why these should matter if passengers are happy with the service”. When the “service” makes the riders and drivers hold the “service” harmless and pay for the services legal expense, perhaps things aren’t as friendly as those pink mustaches would have you believe.

Uber just talked about a company valuation of $10 billion. These companies have attracted huge amounts of venture capital, yet when I checked on who Lyft has as their corporate risk manager, it is a financial person with no insurance background. Amazing.